


Apastron

by CourierNinetyTwo



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Kaiou Michiru/Tenoh Haruka, Implied/Referenced Tsukino Usagi/Chiba Mamoru, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 15:12:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12684405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CourierNinetyTwo/pseuds/CourierNinetyTwo
Summary: Haruka and Usagi can only exist worlds apart for so long.





	Apastron

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by sailorscooby!

The memories came back in pieces.

There was a fleeting fragment the first time Haruka touched her hand after Pharaoh 90 was defeated, flickers whenever their gazes lingered on one another's. It was like static, briefly disrupting Usagi's thoughts, but disappearing before she could make sense of the whole image. 

And then there were the dreams.

They started after Haruka left with Michiru and Setsuna, Hotaru swaddled tight in their arms. Each one was in a palace Usagi had only glimpsed briefly before, halls of endless glamour and stark beauty cast against the backdrop of countless stars, of the planets that her guardians called their own. She wasn't herself there, not quite, for a soul reborn may as well have been a shadow compared to one that carried the weight of millennia, even if at heart they were truly the same.

Haruka appeared there too, but as Uranus -- sometimes princess, sometimes prince -- and it was like the sun breaking past an eclipse. Gallant and playful in any form of dress, Usagi followed her from dreamscape to dreamscape, through a maze of lunar gardens and majestic ballrooms, endless space for them to possess and explore.

Sometimes they spoke, although the words were lost the second Usagi woke up.

Other times they kissed, and the phantom of that feeling followed her for the entire day.

Mamoru always knew when it was the second one, and for a while Usagi refused to talk about it, not wanting to risk hurting him by accident. It wasn't until after dinner one night when he pulled her aside and said  _ I remember Uranus too _ that everything became clear.

Endymion had been remarkably open-minded, it seemed, and with Mamoru's memories to fill in a few blanks, Usagi's anxiety after the dreams vanished almost like it had never been there at all. If only the longing she felt in Haruka's absence would do the same.

Months passed before she found the courage to write a letter. She knew Haruka had to take care of Hotaru, that the Outers were tight-knit and mysterious to protect her from the burden of their purpose, but Usagi put pen to page anyway, using her favorite stationary and sealing the paper with a kiss.

Haruka answered a week later, asking where she wanted to meet.

A hundred plans to cook or go somewhere expensive ran through Usagi's head, but she settled on buying the food for a picnic instead, choosing a park in Tokyo that wasn't very busy during the weekend. She ignored the slight tremble in her hands while setting everything out on the blanket, walling away the fear that Haruka might not show up at the last minute.

Then a polished pair of shoes appeared on the edge of the blanket, and Usagi looked up with a smile. "Haruka!"

"Princess." Her tone was teasing, almost light-hearted as she knelt on the soft pattern under the basket, bringing their faces in line with each other's. "You didn't have to do all this."

"Of course I did. I missed you." The second the words left her lips, an answering ache resounded in Usagi's chest. "I missed you so much."

A beat of silence passed as Haruka's eyes searched hers, blue fading into its darker shades. "I missed you too."

For a few minutes that's all that was said, the food divided between them in an unnecessarily complex dance, as if a brush of a hand or arm would make some delicate balance shatter. In a peaceful park under the cloud-free sun, there was nothing to complain about or comment on, only Haruka's windswept presence beside her, briefly held in place like a breeze through chimes.

"Does Mamoru know about this?" Haruka finally asked, crushing the trash in her hands into a ball like it would bleed the tension away.

"Yes. I wouldn't have invited you if he didn't." Usagi smiled to herself; Mamoru had honestly been happy, in that effortless way that always comforted her. "Does Michiru? And Setsuna, I guess, I don't know if the three of you..."

"We're figuring it out." The interruption was soft, and Haruka's gaze fell away from hers. "It was that way once, but it...it was that way with you too once and I can't--"

"You remember?" Surprise made Usagi sit straight up. "I mean, I've had dreams, but I don't know what's real."

"I was your consort in another age." A hint of pink chased its way across Haruka's face before she recovered her composure. "At least, that's what it seems like. But that doesn't mean I have to be here, I don't want you to think..."

Reaching for Haruka's hand, Usagi grasped tight. "You're not forcing me to do anything, Haruka. You never did."

"I chased you." Haruka let out a deep breath, but turned her hand over so their fingers could link together. "I wanted you so much and I didn't understand why."

"And now?" Usagi asked quietly.

"Now I can't be here, no matter how much I wish it." The smallest smile tugged at Haruka's lips, there and gone again. "It's a familiar feeling. Except then, I had to search for the moon from worlds away."

"But you are  _ here. _ " She didn't want to risk checking the time, having to count how many hours they had left. "At least for a little while.

Haruka's thumb started to draw a circle around the pulse of her wrist. "Then what can I offer you? A ride by the sea? A date at the amusement park?"

"Is that what you want?" Usagi knew better even as she asked the question, had caught Haruka's eyes drifting down to her lips and back.

"I want to make my princess happy." Haruka whispered.

Maybe she leaned forward first or maybe Haruka had, but it didn't matter. The kiss was tentative, so gentle that Usagi could barely feel it until she tipped her head, encouraging just a little more. Passion answered the plea, slender fingers cupping the back of her neck until Haruka had kissed every last breath out of Usagi's lungs, taken command of it.

"Stay." The word was scarcely loud enough to be heard, but it was all she could manage. "Just a bit longer."

"As long as you'll have me." Haruka answered, the syllables formed right against her lips.

There were centuries in every kiss that followed, time lost or spent long ago. It was a mercy to be reborn in the same place as everyone who shared her heart, and Usagi planned to treasure it until the very last second.

\--  
  



End file.
